Ic Industries

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT IC INDUSTRIES - PAGE 5

Lee W. Jennings was elected a director of Illinois Central Gulf railroad, an IC Industries company. Jennings was with the national accounting firm of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. for more than 20 years, until 1985, as managing partner of its Chicago office. This year, he formed a Chicago-based consulting firm bearing his name.

IC Industries Inc. said its Hussmann Corp. unit agreed to sell the assets of its Alton Manufacturing Co. subsidiary to Mestek Inc. Terms were withheld. Alton makes a line of direct and indirect fired heater-blower units for space heating, ventilating and other uses.

IC Industries Inc. says it has entered into agreements to acquire Pepsi-Cola Bottling companies in Sedalia and Columbia, Mo. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. The two firms had combined sales of $28 million last year.

IC Industries Inc. sold Amsco Welding Products, a Wauseon, Ohio-based company, to Stoody Co. Amsco was a unit of IC's Abex Corp. Terms were withheld. Both Stoody, based in California, and Amsco produce welding products. They will operate independently under Stoody's ownership, said James B. Lovell, Stoody's president.

IC Industries Inc. said Friday it plans to spin off its Illinois Central Gulf rail unit to shareholders within the next three to six months. The diversified Chicago-based company said that when details of the planned spinoff of Illinois Central Gulf R.R. Co. are completed, directors will declare a dividend of ICG stock to IC Industries stockholders. The number of dividend shares to be granted will follow a formula yet to be determined. Frank Allston, a spokesman for IC Industries, said the plan is subject to a ruling from the Internal Revenue Service.

IC Industries Inc.'s commitment to the consumer goods business becomes stronger this week with its official name change to Whitman Corp. and a plan to expand its Pepsi-Cola bottling operations in Wisconsin. IC Industries officials announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement to buy the Oshkosh and Wisconsin Rapids Pepsi franchises for an undisclosed amount. And beginning Thursday, the former railroad company will be publicly traded as Whitman Corp., a name that symbolizes the end of the railroad era for the $3.5 billion multinational corporation.

IC Industries Inc. said Monday it has signed an agreement to buy Ogden Food Products Corp., a subsidiary of Ogden Corp., for $320 million in cash. Ogden Food Products markets soups, sauces, bread crumbs and health foods under the Progresso, Hain, Hollywood and Las Palmas brand names. Sales in 1986 are estimated at $276 million. It will become part of IC Industries specialty food company, Pet Inc. "The acquisition of Ogden Food Products gives Pet a unique opportunity to take a giant step toward its goal of becoming the industry's premier specialty food company," said William B. Johnson, chairman and chief executive officer of IC Industries.

Pet Inc., an IC Industries Inc. company, acquired Facchin Foods Co. Ltd., a pasta manufacturer in Edmonton, for an undisclosed amount of cash. Facchin becomes part of Primo Foods Ltd., a Canadian subsidiary of St. Louis-based Pet since 1986. Primo produces a line of more than 800 Italian food products, plus Old El Paso Mexican foods and Underwood meat spreads.

IC Industries Inc. said its $250 million spinoff of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad to shareholders may be delayed until late summer because of the Interstate Commerce Commission's decision to review the transaction. The ICC said it instituted an investigation of the spinoff as a result of protests by Venango River Corp., which bought a short-line railroad from the Illinois Central two years ago for $80 million.